Day SIX: HOME

We left the apartment a little after 8 to catch the metro to the main station where we would take a 40 min bus ride to the airport.  THANKFULLY, we gave ourselves a time buffer because panic set in!  We had purchased our bus tickets online to save a whopping 2 euro and confirm our seats on the bus, BUT when we asked the apartment landlord to print our tickets for us, he printed the email confirmation and NOT the actual tickets (my mistake for not catching that when he handed me the paper)  The bus kiosk wouldn't except our email confirmation and Leevi had to scramble to an Internet cafe to try and print our tickets.  Long story short, because he was logging on to his email account in a foreign country, he had to verify himself with on his 2nd email account which is his military account and there was NO WAY he would have access logging into that from a foreign country.  We ended up purchasing a 2nd set of tickets (and wasting $25) and loaded the bus just as they were pulling away!  Sigh!!!!!!!!!!  Our back up plan would have been to take a taxi for about $50 which is actually what we ended up spending since we had to buy 2 sets of tickets!  Ha!!!  Oh well!!!!  It was a hard way to end our successful trip, but after navigating Italy with 3 kiddos using only public transportation and sleeping in 3 different cities in 6 days, we couldn't be too bummed!  We joked the entire week that it was like we were on the reality show Amazing Race!  Leevi and I seriously high-fived each other constantly!  ;)  

 

Wearing Hailey's hat and waiting for our final metro ride!

Finally at the airport and through security...we can breathe!!!!!  I've become a nervous wreck flying recently; not so much the flight itself, but getting there on time, checking bags, making it through security and all of the regulations, customs checks, language barriers, remembering passports, on and on!!!!  I know I'll be a mess when we make our flight to the States with Leila and praying that we've done everything we need to for her!  Sigh.....

On the plane...we had about a 2hr flight home.  Leevi and Hailey napped (Hailey NEVER naps and she willingly put away the iPad and closed her eyes!  Italy did her in!!!)  Kai and Luke played and watched movies and we were all so antsy to get home!!!

Once we landed back in Germany, we still had an hour and 15 min drive home.  Hailey gets carsick on windy roads especially when she's watching a movie!  We finally had to turn the movie off because she was turning so pale.  I turned around to check on her and found her like this:  we definitely chuckled to ourselves! :)

It was an AMAZING yet EXHAUSTING experience and the ultimate test in patience from all 5 of us, but we passed with flying colors!!!  So blessed to have had the opportunity to vacation in Europe over the past 4 years!!!

We were glad to be home and Leevi had taken off the rest of Spring Break to prep for the move.  We hit the ground running getting everything sorted, cleaned and ready for movers on Monday.

Day FIVE: Rome, Italy

Our final full day of our trip was the most exhausting of all of them!  We had a lot to see and a lot of walking to do since the attractions were pretty far away from the metro lines.  We did take a bus a few times, but we still did a ton of walking...it was hot and the girls were spent within an hour of starting our day!  Just organizing the photos of this day was exhausting! :)  We made a BIG oops to start off the day when we thought the first place we wanted to see was a lot closer to the metro.  This was DEFINITELY something I told our friends about who were heading to Rome the day we left.  The place we walked to initially (Vittorio Emanuele II Monument/Piazza Venezia) was just next door to the place where we ended our day (Roman Forum) and we could have seen it then vs all of the backtracking we did.  You live and learn and that was our only BIG planning mess up during the whole trip, so I can't get too worked up about it! ;) 

 

I took lots of screen shots of the online research I did because once we were out for the day, we only had maps and a Rick Steves book to use to navigate around.  This one below was perfect except I didn't put two and two together that Piazza Venezia and Vittorio Emanuele Monument are the same thing. 

The Victor Emanuel Monument also known as "The Wedding Cake" and it also has the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. 

 

 



 

We left there and instead of walking all the way back to the metro, we waited for a bus to take us to the metro and then over to the Circus Maximus area. The Metros were packed that day!!!

Our 2nd stop of the day was at the Baths of Caracalla which were neat to see, but we felt that the Roman baths in Trier were more fun because you could go down below where they transported the water.  We told our friends who were a few days behind us on this trip, to skip the baths and do them in Trier about an hour from our house. 

We left the baths and headed to La Bocca della Verita.  We were desperate to find "kid fun" on this trip and this was a pretty neat legend.  Again, I used a screen shot from my research to get us from the metro to the cathedral where the mouth is. 

The fields are Circus Maximus where the Romans held the chariot races and the structures behind it are part of Palatine Hill



The Mouth of Truth!!!!  Hailey was too scared to put her hand in and Luke was napping, so Kai was willing to sacrifice her hand for us! LOL!!! 

We were beat by the time we finally made it to the Colosseum, our 4th stop of the day.  In hindsight, we should have started our day here and did the other small things depending on our moods, but of course hindsight is 20/20!  We bought a combo ticket for the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill and didn't have to wait too long in line.  It was impressive!!!!!!

The birthday boy!!!!

 

We all perked up after a birthday gelato and then headed over to the Forum and Palatine hill (we had no idea how much more walking there was to come!!!!!)

What is was like when we let Luke get out of the backpack!!!  He really did so great though over the week; he'd fuss when we had to put him back in the backpack, but he'd get over it pretty quickly and he napped the entire week on the go!

Roman Forum and Palatine Hill...this was probably my favorite part of Rome because I'm a sucker for old ruins just like the old castle ruins here in Germany. 

Coming out of the Roman Forum (with the Victor Emm. monument right behind us where we started our llloooonnnnngggg day!)

While we were waiting for the bus to get back to the metro a man was making money by letting you hold his birds...the girls loved it!!

We headed back to the apartment to make dinner and start packing.  Our flight home the next morning wasn't until noon, so we had plenty of time to get up and not rush in the morning (or so we thought....)

Day FOUR: Rome, Italy

Our plan for our first day in Rome was to go to Vatican City and see St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica (we were excited to see the world's largest church in the world's smallest country), but I didn't research enough about the Vatican City, because we arrived on a Sunday morning and that's when the Pope gives his blessing.  It was a neat experience to say that we've been blessed by the Pope, but it meant that the Basilica was closed.  We didn't even attempt the Sistine Chapel or the museums with the kids especially since we only had two days in Rome. 

Pope Francis, the 266th Pope, giving his blessing from his apartment window. 

Filling up our water bottles in Vatican City!

It was sooooo crowded and the crowds just continued for the rest of the day everywhere we went!

Kailee was counting the number of gelatos they've had so far in Italy.

We left Vatican City and got back on the metro to begin Rick Steve's Heart of Rome walk.  We modified the walking route to the big things we wanted to see and started at the Spanish Steps

We left the Spanish Steps and wandered aimlessly toward the Trevi Fountain which we somehow managed to find without getting lost!  And Luke napped in the backpack...such a trooper!!!

Trevi Fountain:  tradition has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you will return to Rome in the future, but you have to face away from the fountain and toss the coin over your opposite shoulder.  It was fun for the girls and I let them empty my Euro coin purse of all my small change.  The money in the fountain is collected daily and used to feed the poor in Rome.  I read that on average 3,000 euro is collected daily; that's over $4,000!!!!!

Tossing their coins in!

We packed shorts for the girls to switch into mid-day when it warmed up.  The weather was probably our biggest battle with their temperaments...too cold=whiny; too hot=whiny  :)

We continued the route past Parliament and toward the Pantheon...we ran into a family from the girls' gymnastics class here...small world!!!!

The drinking fountains in Rome definitely perked us all up in the heat.  The girls soaked their heads and necks and it really refreshed their attitudes about so much walking.  I can't imagine how hot and muggy it gets in the summer!  The fountain that Kailee is drinking from is neat because it typically runs down constantly (like in the bottom left photo below), but if you plug the bottom with your hand, it becomes a drinking fountain.

The Pantheon was built in 126AD

Inside the Pantheon

These Indian levitating guys were everywhere...the trick is the pole is attached to a seat (under his robe) and a fake hand with a metal support.  Regardless, it's cool and so hard to sit there completely still for hours on end!

By far, Luke's favorite part of Italy...chasing pigeons!!!

Once we were back at the house and made dinner, Hailey and I wandered the neighborhood and she got another gelato(there was some deal involved with a 2nd ice cream of the day.  I think Kai must have gotten a souvenir from vendor for a euro and Hailey opted for ice cream after dinner) She LOVED the little baby cones that they put on the top!

Day two in Rome...to be continued!